Kerry
proved a couple of things. First, while he is more than capable of
loose-cannoning his way across the Middle East, and while he is on occasion
alarmingly optimistic about a range of issues that don’t warrant optimism, he
is also committed, in a bone-deep way, to Israel’s well-being. He is an
exemplar of a slowly vanishing type of Democratic Party leader, someone with
great, and uncomplicated, affection for the promise of Zionism.

Second,
while it may be true that Kerry is seeking a Nobel Peace Prize for his work on
Israel-Palestine conciliation, he’s also working for something that most Jews,
in Israel and around the world, desperately want – a secure Israel with
internationally recognized borders that becomes an honored member of the family
of nations, rather than a target of never-ending opprobrium.

The
setting for this speech, the forum’s keynote address, was extraordinary, and
not only because President Barack Obama had appeared at the forum earlier in
the day as a kind of inadvertent warm-up act. (In the interest of disclosure, I
moderated a panel on the Iranian nuclear controversy, not for pay, but because
I was looking to give myself a headache.) Five Israeli cabinet ministers were
in Kerry’s audience – including the foreign minister, the dyspeptic revanchist
Avigdor Lieberman (who tried to win over the audience the previous night,
without much success) – along with many senior figures in the Israeli security
establishment. Also in attendance were a number of Israel’s most prominent
overseas supporters, first and foremost Haim Saban himself. Saban is the
Israeli-American billionaire behind the Saban Center (which is part of the Brookings
Institution), who has become perhaps the central figure trying to bridge the
various divides between Israel and the U.S.

Much of
Kerry’s speech was taken up with a by-now traditional, and not overly
persuasive, defense of the Obama administration’s approach to Iran. I’ll deal
with that later (not that I haven’t dealt with it over and over again). But I
was struck by his remarks on the peace process. Kerry appeared confident about
the chance for at least preliminary success in the ongoing talks. (Speculation
at the conference was that he had some sort of agreement in his pocket already
that he couldn’t share.) He also pulled back the curtain a bit on a brilliant
jiu-jitsu move of his devising.

Right-wing
Israeli politicians consistently argue that pulling out of the West Bank will
endanger Israel’s security (just as pulling out of Gaza hurt its security in
some important ways). Kerry is confronting this fear head on by overseeing an
assessment led by retired Marine Corps General John Allen – the former
commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan – of Israeli security requirements; the
hope is to devise a system that will make the West Bank’s border with Jordan
“as strong as any in the world.” If Kerry manages to neutralize the Israeli
government’s arguments against a West Bank pullback by building, with Israel,
an impregnable security system, he’ll make real inroads with pro-compromise,
but skeptical, Israelis.

Kerry
was at his most emotional – and yes, pro-Israel – when he described the
benefits of peace and when he warned of what would happen to Israel if it
continued to settle land that needs to become part of the new state of
Palestine for that state to be viable. “Just think of how much more secure
Israel would be if it were integrated into a regional security architecture and
surrounded by newfound partners,” Kerry said. “Think of an end to the unjust
but also inexorable campaign to delegitimize Israel in the international
community.”

The
word “inexorable” is key. Much of the Saban meeting was off-the-record, so I am
limited in what I can say, but many of the Israeli participants I spoke to
seemed worried, in ways I hadn’t noticed before, about the international
delegitimization campaign targeting their country – economic boycotts in
Europe, the beginnings of an academic boycott in the U.S. The leaders of the
movement to delegitimize Israel are committed to the country’s destruction; no
West Bank compromise will spur advocates of an anti-Israel boycott to stop
hating the idea of a Jewish national home. But this anti-Israel movement gains
strength and support by focusing not on its real complaint – Israel’s existence
itself – but on Israel’s behavior on the West Bank. End the occupation, and the
delegitimization movement loses much of its energy.

Kerry
also spoke strongly about a related issue: The demographic challenge to
Israel’s existence as a haven for the Jewish people and as a democracy if it
holds onto the West Bank and its Palestinians indefinitely. This demographic
dynamic, he said, “makes it impossible for Israel to preserve its future as a
democratic, Jewish state without resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in
a two-state solution.”

Kerry
went on, “Force cannot defeat or defuse the demographic time bomb. Israel’s
current state of relative security and prosperity does not change the fact that
today’s status quo will not be tomorrow’s or the future’s. The only way to
secure Israel’s long-term future and security will be achieved through direct
negotiations that separate Palestinians and Israelis, resolve the refugee
situation, end all claims, and establish an independent, viable Palestinian
state, and achieve recognition of Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people.”

Kerry
had appropriately tough words for Israeli politicians – including those seated
in the front row – who argue that Palestinians can trust Israel, but Israel
cannot trust the Palestinians. “President Abbas has made tough choices and he
has stayed the course, despite people in his team saying, ‘You ought to get out
of here, look at those settlements. They’re making a fool of you.’ Believe me,
that battle’s been going on, because I deal with it every week.”

The
conclusion that I drew from this, and other passages, is that Kerry is so
anti-settlement precisely because he is so pro-Israel. I ran this conclusion,
and others, by one of Israel’s most influential journalists, Ari Shavit (the
author of the current best-seller, “My Promised Land”) who was also in the room
for Kerry’s talk. “All my doubts have not melted away, but I was moved by the
commitment, dedication and compassion the secretary presented,” Shavit said.

Kerry’s
speech was neither overly cerebral nor cold, even in its moments of criticism.
Some of his Middle East policy ideas may be flawed (I’ve avoided discussing
Syria here, in case you haven’t noticed), but he has an acute understanding of
the existential challenges facing Israel, and he gave the speech of a man who
would consider Israel’s disappearance a tragedy.Saban Forum 2013: Keynote Address by Secretary of State John Kerry. Video. Brookings Institution, December 11, 2013. YouTube. Also here.